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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-15-2007 05:34 PM

smitty55

what a friend ran into

What a friend of mine ran into as he was taking the body off his 47 Plymouth Sedan, was years of build up, tar and grime. He was telling me that stuff stuck like glue. I he went back several times making sure he had all the bolts out.. The sling I read about works best, no damage to the body.
You might want to look into building a gantry, if you plan to do another car.

01-15-2007 10:58 AM

Rufus_2

With mine I hung the fenders and hood from the rafters, I built a 4' x 3' dolly with 4" casters to hold my engine and transmission and I rolled those into a corner. I have also built a dolly for the body so I can roll it around if needed. I have found that having things on wheels is essential. My shop is 31' x 11' and once I take the body off I will have about 48 sq ft of open space around my work bench and 24 sq ft. on each side of the frame. Having rolling dollies allows me to play tetris when I need space in a certain area in my shop.

01-15-2007 10:48 AM

58Chev

I'm going to be doing this very thing with my 58 in the next few months. I have to only deal with 12 body bolts. But there is every thing else that is attached. Steering, tank, tranny...... I just don't know where I'm going to put that stuff once it's off.

01-15-2007 08:29 AM

Rufus_2

I thought I had it bad with 14 body bolts. That was why I bothered to get an orignal shop manual. At least I new where to look. I never realized how heavy the body was until I started this. You're not kidding about a lot of steel.

01-15-2007 08:23 AM

Mrwood

re: Pulling the body

You are so right about the bolts, thought id never find them all. Had to cut some them off with the torch, These old bodys had some heavy metal in them.

01-14-2007 08:57 PM

redsdad

Those old GM's use a lot of bolts to hold the body on. I mean a whole lot of bolts. My 41 has 22 bolts holding the body on.

I used the holes in the front firewall supports. Lifted the front and supported it. Went to the back and lifted it. Rolled the frame out.

01-14-2007 07:53 PM

Mrwood

re: Pulling the body

I got a friend with a tractor and a front end loader, put 4x4s through the window openings and lifted it right off the frame with no damage. Cost me a six pack of beer.

01-14-2007 04:34 PM

Whippetguy

I lifted the body off my Whippet with an engine hoist and a strap through the window openings. I lifted it up and set it down on 4x4's sitting on large jack stands. I then rolled out the chassis, lifted the body again, and lowered the jack stands down. Worked great without any help from anyone else.
Don't use the fender mounting bolts. They weren't designed to take that kind of weight. Even if they held long enough to lift it, they could give way with disastrous consequences.

01-14-2007 04:25 PM

Rufus_2

Pulling the body

I am attempting to pull the body of my 4 door pontiac sedan. I don't have 7 freinf\ds as crazy as I do so I was going to try to pull the body using tow straps and and engine hoist. Place the front and rear of the body on steel tubing on steel saw horses. The plan was to roll the frame out and the dolly in. I threaded bolts in to the fender mounting holes and placed the hooks of the strap around the bolts. Iplaced the hoist hook in the middle of the strap and atempted to hoist. As I was opulling it it looked like I was bending the mounting holes out of shape and body was not moving at all. I verified that all the body bolts have been removed and I don't see anything that is making the body stick. Any suggestions out there? Should I try to find 7 people who are as crazy as me and lift it manually.